


Happy Birthday, Erwin

by Maarkriifaas



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Birthday, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-14
Updated: 2015-10-14
Packaged: 2018-04-26 09:26:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4999507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maarkriifaas/pseuds/Maarkriifaas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It comes in the little things he finds in the morning of, the dew on the leaves outside, the silver that adorns the straw yellow of his hair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy Birthday, Erwin

It comes in the little things he finds in the morning of, the dew on the leaves outside, the silver that adorns the straw yellow of his hair.

He looks out the window to the usual, a graveyard of memories and dreams and wishes, but today it all seems so surreal, lost in the autumn morning mist. It's cold outside, cold enough for him to want to curl back into the blankets and sleep, just today, just on his special day. He knows he's not allowed though, and smiles briefly.

His uniform is soft, freshly washed and laid out for him across the chair, in a way only one person he knows might do. There's a note on top that says  _Mike wanted to use the bugel to wake you up, you owe me one_ , and the letters are perfectly formed, immaculately crossed t's and flawless curves on the s's and m's. A second line underneath is scrawled in messy handwriting,  _Get your sweet ass-cheeks downstairs!_ , and the same way he knows the writer of the first half, he knows the writer of the second.

It comes in the smell that assaults him as he bounces down the stairs, because it’s nothing short of burnt to hell and back. There is smoke wafting up the stairs in lazy grey clouds, and Erwin rushes down a bit faster now, laughter and yelling coming from the kitchen in equal parts.

It comes in the laziness of the afternoon, the universe glowing as though he was looking through a kaleidoscope. The whole afternoon passes in sort of the same way, smoke clouding everything, and Erwin is engulfed in glass, the entire world seeming fragmented and distorted. The impending doom of humanity was forgotten (slightly unwillingly) in the sunshine, shoved forcefully into a tiny box and thrown out the window by his friends. Words like “government,” “guilt,” “death,” and “Titan,” were banned for the day, with Hanji eventually resorting to duck tape.

It comes in the pink, frothy cake, that Mike pulls out of nowhere, that probably cost a fortune in the diminishing supplies, the candles throwing tall shadows to contrast against the walls. It comes in Levi sitting judgementally by the sidelines, tea in hand and refusing to eat any, claiming it was simply “too sweet.” Erwin catches him eyeing it hungrily and hands him a slice anyways.

Better men have died before him, but it’s hard not to appreciate life amidst all the death.

It ends the same way it always does, with the four of them collapsed on the floor, telling veteran stories and drunk off their asses. It ends with his grey hairs being picked out by Hanji in the glow of the torches, announcing he was still too young to have any, and Mike asleep on his lap. It ends in the sleepy arms and hands draped around him like curtains at the end of a performance, his friends hugging him just a little too tightly.

And, for once, Erwin doesn't regret a moment of it.


End file.
